A New Technique in Watercolors: Rabbit Test and Iris Study

Rabbit Study with Gouache/ watercolor/ 14 x 9.25/

This is the first painting working on a new watercolor application. Using opaque watercolors and gouache, the background is dulled back. This effect is less obvious with the orange but easier to see with the grey brown in this painting.
My purpose in working on this technique is to explore painting a lit flower against a dulled background. My hope is that this will add "glow" to the transparent colors of the flower.

Iris Study with Gouache/ watercolor/ 9.25 x 14/

Here is the first painting using this idea. This allows for an abstracted background and makes the flower really glow...

Watercolor of Bluejay and Pretty Pink Iris

Bluejay Study/ watercolor/ 10 x 8.75/ SOLD

This is a study for a larger watercolor of this blue jay. Like most of my paintings, I am working on the abstract/realistic parts of each painting. The red Chinese mark is a stamp that reads my name in Chinese (at least that is what it is supposed to be..could be anything, I guess). I love how pretty it is, regardless of what it says.

Pink Iris Study/ oil on gesso board/ 7 x 5/ HH Gallery

This is another oil painting of the beautiful irises I had in my garden this year. This variety is named "Beverly Sills" and is a no fail for annual flowers. Also, the pine voles that eat the newer iris hybrid tubers seem to not care for this variety (yeah). This is painted with transparent underfloors of indian yellow, quinacridone rose and sap green. This the over layer has white (over the yellow), mixes of quin rose, cad orange (some winsor orange) cad yellow deep and white for the pinks; caribbean blue, olive green, lemon yellow and white in the foliage. The thin lines are made with the sharp edge of a flat brush.

Spring Finery

Spring Finery/ watercolor/ 10 x 8/

My recent posts are of larger watercolors. Their size is a little too big for the photo cube I use, so the lighting is not the best. Please know that the background is the white of the paper while I figure out my technical issues. I am working to have the birds integrated into the background or abstracting their form. Luckily I have many willing models, as long as I feed them. This guy got his new spring duds earlier than the other guys he was traveling with. I wonder if that gave him an advantage in finding a mate.

The iris I post today was tucked down and I almost missed it. It didn't develop the usual long iris stem but it is stunning even as a truncated fellow,

Grumpy Wren

Grumpy Wren/ watercolor/ 8 x 10/ SOLD

This is not the best lighting. The background is pure white watercolor paper.
This is a little friend that has built a nest in my rose bush and is never too pleased when I have to go and take care of plants in its vicinity.

I like to imagine that technically this is a little of what I learned from Charles Reid and my own emerging strokes. Charles Reid mentioned that he liked the color choices of Bonnard and tried to have "warm and cools everywhere".
Can you see that is what I was working to remember here?

Mother's Day Bouquet

Mothers Day Bouquet/ watercolor/ 14 x 10.5/ SOLD

To have the direct application of color work in a painting, it is important to plan the areas of white spaces. These tulips are better with white areas between their petals. painting directly, this is a challenge to think about while keeping the color moving. It seems to help to think about where real value changes occur.

Clearly, more work to make this more accessible

Writing a List

Writing a list/ watercolor/ 9 x 12/ SOLD

I have not updated my blog recently and I will update with what I have learned from that absence soon. Most recently though, I have finally finished hours of yard maintenance which happens each spring (to provide the many flowers I paint each year...)

This watercolor is one of the first I am happy with after my recent workshop with Charles Reid. Rich color and looseness define Mr Reid's work. I am still striving for this effect in mine. In addition, I want the "light" to read in my paintings so I am working on ways to have that communicated. More on this subject soon.

Tulip Sketch

Tulip Sketch/ watercolor/ 10.5 x 4.75/ $55
Purchase here

This is the first watercolor of tulips using the lessons I learned from the Reid workshop a couple of weeks ago. Mr Reid is a master of clean, fresh color and washy but not washed out paintings. He uses just the right amount of water in the brush, on the palette placed onto dry paper that can be prewet by the leading brush edge.

I would like to work on a vase of these while they are in bloom.

This is one of Charles Reid's watercolors recently shown on his Facebook page.

Warming Up

Egret Study/ watercolor/ 4.5 x 10/ $55
Purchase Here

I have been absent while I attended a workshop lead by Charles Reid. Of course attending the workshop meant time packing and re-packing my supplies so that they could fit into a carry on suitcase, which meant that clothes had to be removed and resorted. Once home, I then had to catch up from the travel and so finally, a week after the workshop, I am "warming back up". So what about Charles Reid? Watching hime paint was just a delight. In person, seeing the amount of water in his brush, in his palette and the speed (actually the slow meticulous application of each stroke) was just wonderful. Interestingly, for watercolorists he uses the sable brushes he describes in his book. However, he uses them to really carry water to his paper: sometimes presetting an area with the belly of the brush so that the paint will flow into this area or handling a large passage with the brush splayed like a mop. AND he uses Holbein watercolors which reconstitute to be wet and juicey  just by spraying with water...very cool.

This is a small warm up (glad to be home).

Series Continues (#3) and little colt study

Moving along now. You can see the "file" of colors (recipes for dyes mixes and silk types) to the right of the flowers. This will be my first study of the poppies that bloomed in my garden last spring. (This season's poppies are all about an inch high and weather permitting, should be beautiful in April-May).

Here is a watercolor study of a colt working with the backwashes of lots of water  and the juxtaposition of warm/cool colors to give the illusion of shine and form. If you are interested in this, details are available here

My oil painting class starts a new six-week series for 2015 tomorrow.  I have a set of color challenge exercises that I hope will help them learn and have fun doing it.

Step Two of New Project and Little Goose

This is not a photo of the current batch of dyed sold pieces. The present batch had to be hung about the house, as it rained steadily outside. This was not the "photo op" that makes for a nice blog post, so you can see step two from a previous effort.  Today, I need to dye a little more since some of the colors I need are not what the first batch yielded (I am pretending that I am an "old master" and that I am "grinding my pigments etc with this prep work (ha)).  I will move ahead on the process while adding to my "palette".

Here is a little "warm up" watercolor for 2015. It is tiny. Details and purchase information can be found here.

Twelve Days (day 11) (favorite art books)

This is a larger painting that I painted last year. It is hanging in Raleigh looking for a "forever home".

Day 11 of Twelve Days
Here are my favorite "visual" books. By that I mean books that are filled with wonderful images by wonderful artists. These are the books that I would take to a desert island.

Oil Paintings:
1. Alla Prima II by Richard Schmid
In addition to being a wonderful teaching resource, the images in this book are breath-taking.
2. Nicholai Fechin by Mary N Balcomb.  Fantastically expressive images
3. Portrait of Maquoketa by Rose Franzen. Her portrait series uses wonderful colors
4. Joaquin Sorolla Blanca Pons-Sorolla San Diego Museum of Art: Beautiful paintings filled with light

Watercolor
1. John Singer Sargent Watercolors by Erica Hirshler and Teresa Carbone (175 color illustrations) from the MFA and Brooklyn Museum of Art's fabulous recent large museum exhibit.
2. Like Moving Poems by Guan Weixing.  These watercolors are very emotional, lose and expressive.
3. One Upon an Island by Stephen Scott Young in the Bahamas: fabulous design in these paintings

Fabric
1.The Art of Annemeike Mein: The most amazing textile dimensional "paintings"

 If you have favorites, I would like to hear about them

Little Puppy Study and Twelve Days #6 (Marketing Resources)

This little painting was done on the back of a failed painting on 140 lb cp Lanquarelle paper. Recently, I use mostly 140 lb cp Fabriano paper. Lanquarelle paper is lovely and soft and very white. However, it doesn't lift to white. Fabriano lifts beautifully to white, but sometimes lifts something you wish would it wouldn't have. Trying the different papers  to see what works best for you is worth it.

If you are interested this little painting is available here

Twelve Days #6
I think marketing is made easier by great paintings. Great paintings happen by lots of work and lots and lots of not-so-great paintings. I don't think there are short-cuts. So first, paint.
It is fabulous, however, to be able to "pay for your habit" and afford the materials, (especially materials for the "learning paintings" (i.e. trash)).
Some of the marketing resources that I have found helpful include:

1. "Open Your Studio" by Melinda Cootsona (link) This is a step-by-step book about having a successful open studio

2. old, archived "podcasts" from Artists Helping Artists (especially those with Dreama Tolle Perry)(link)

3. A great little book: "I'd Rather be in the Studio" by Alyson Stanfield (link) When I looked to add this link, I found that she also has free podcasts that make be as good as her book.

Series Sketch #8 and Twelve days #4 (great gadgets)

My original goal for this series was to use a lot of water and experiment with texture. The exercises you have seen (and there have been many throw-aways) that I like have had 1. a large value range (all have the deepest darks) 2,  well-rendered eyes and beaks and decent bird shapes 3. the drips matter:  the color, size and direction and 4. soft edges are needed. I have begun to use what I have learned to scale up and try other subjects....
This one is for sale here

My twelve days had best continue or Christmas will have arrived...
The most useful ready-made gadgets or tools that I love this year include:
1. a view catcher by color wheel company (link).  This great tool allows you to visualize your set up in a correct size rectangle and then use the rectangle to help make placement marks and block in.
2. "memorized" style planes of the head model  (link). This is invaluable to understand poorly lit photos or begin to understand simplifying the head.
3. table top paint on easel by Karin Jurick's guy (link). A fabulous easel that is always my students' favorite to borrow.
4.  table top photography tent kit by CowboyStudio (link). You see this in use every day that I post a small painting.

Series Sketch # 7 (lion cub) and Twelve Days #3 (fav teaching dvds or web casts)

As I was searching for source photos today, I came across this cub from a trip to the National Zoo in DC. I wondered whether the same abstracted watery paint application could work with this little guy. I quite like it. To compensate for the lack of dark values, I used a warmer (orange) color to bring the head forward.
This can be purchased here

For day 3 of my twelve days, I will share my favorite teaching dvds or webcasts. My goal is to grow with a more painterly style. Therefore most of the artists that I learn from paint in this manner. My favorites include: Alla Prima Portraiture by Rose Frantzen, Gesture Portraits II by Jeffrey Watts,  the teaching videos on BrightLightFineArt.com (especially those by David A Leffel, and an on line demo with Joseph Zbuvick by Color Your Life with Graeme Stevenson (link). This last link may inspire you to see other parts of this series which I always want to have time to do.....

Sketch Series #6: Flying Hummer

This is the second sketch of a hummingbird. The colors in the hummers are transparent, non granulating so I use salt to create texture on these birds. I have also experimented with rough paper, water droplets and now I am off to try alcohol.
Day 3 of Day 12 will have to be tomorrow. My morning painting was a "wipe" so I have to do something to recover....

You can buy this here, if you are interested.

Sketch Series #5 (baby chickadee) and Twelve days: #2 (books)

Still working on painting the chickadees at my feeder. This one seemed to paint himself. It looks like one of the chicks from the spring. I decided this morning that rather than "mess him up",  I will try to paint his parent later. It is always fascinating to me when these personalities "appear" on the paper.
This little guy has already found a new home before I can get this post written today (thank you!)

Day 2 of my twelve day "notes":
Most of you know that I came to painting late in life. I love every second that I am allowed to do this. I want to learn everything I possibly can. Therefore, I read. Here are my favorite book finds for this past year:

Alla Prima 11 by Richard Schmid
I have the first edition (also amazing) but this edition contains even more information. Somewhere between editions, I learned about "color temperature". The "warm light, cool shadow" rule seemed to start to make sense. In this edition, Richard has two photographs that show the same table leg lit with warm and cool light and the different color temperature shadows that result. This pair of photos are incredibly helpful to new painters. The entire rest of the book is worth the many, many times that owners will read this and savor the fabulous paintings.

Painting People in Watercolor
A Design Approach by Alex Powers
Design is not an area that has come easily to me. This entire book is filled with wonderfully designed images. I have a permanent bookmark on the page that demonstrates how to simplify shapes in a painting. As I write this, however, I have to confess that there are several other "permanent" book marks and I know that I will read this book (and continue to learn) many more times.

Color Harmony in Your Paintings
by Margaret Kessler
I have every book on color that I can find. Sometime, I could write a post on all of the color books. This particular book is fantastic. Finally, there is a description of the Munsell Color wheel and a way that I can understand and use the "visual or light" compliments that I have previously had charts to keep in mind. One of the "twelve days", I will write about the Munsell Color Wheel and why it might be worth understanding.

Sketch Series #4 (Red) and Twelve Days #1 (blogs)

This image refuses to behave. I cropped it so that the parrot has room to his left and the white of the paper is bright white.
I will reshoot it in the light of tomorrow and replace it, if you want to look again. To purchase this (link)

In the meanwhile, my bird series continues. Daniel Smith has a great sale for the next couple of days (including reduced shipping).  I love their watercolors. They are richly pigmented. They also have excellent descriptions of their paints. I am interested in playing with more granulation. I want the colors to "split" to add to the illusion of feathers. I can hardly wait to try these new ones.

I promised twelve days of art suggestions for  Christmas.
First are my favorite art blogs.
For the most information, I love
1. Ancient Artist Developing an Art Career After Fifty: by Sue Favinger (link)
The Goggle description: career advice, inspiration and coaching for people over 50 who are just starting out as fine artists, offering more than a decade of actual.....
Her essays are very thoughtful, well-researched and excellent. They are excellent for all painters and especially for older painters like me.
2. Carolyn Anderson Artist (link) has recently started a blog. Her blog (like her fabulous, information-packed workshops) are also very dense, informative and extremely well-written. I love the fabulous paintings that Carolyn adds to each of her posts.
3. For beautiful work, I love when Karin Jurick's " A Painting Today" (link) blog posts arrive in my  email.
Though she doesn't post often,  Liz Wiltzen- A Painter's Journal (link) has great content and interesting work and I also enjoy Art Talk by Julie Ford Oliver (link)
These should keep you busy for now!

Sketch Series #3

Sketch Series #3 (wren)/ 6 x 8

This a little wren that loves to fly into the garage when the door is open. I don't have good images of him because I am not a great photographer and he moves, bobs, and moves too quickly for me to get focused. I painted this twice (again). It is a lot more difficult than it appears.
if you are interested, you can purchase it here.

Hummer: A Step Forward

I don't post most of my larger, more realized paintings. Most of these are watercolors. I like the unpredictability of the water and the beauty of the transparency that watercolor can achieve. I find that I get two layers of paint (unless I am following and using the extraordinary patience and thin veils of color that Susan Harrison-Tustain uses (see her beautiful work and follow her fabulous tips here) before I start making my paper "scratchy" looking. I love to paint birds and have been working to "loosen up" . Here is today's little watercolor: lots of water and only an i phone image so not the best lighting . Never-the-less, it feels like a step forward.....
Happy Thanksgiving from my backyard to yours!

Day 24: Tiny Rabbit Watercolor Sketch

I am working on a new large watercolor piece and working with a great new class of painters (see below) so I didn't have time to get to work on oil today. However, inspired by yesterday's little dog that "showed up",  I decided to try a rabbit for today's challenge entry. Here are the best parts of this painting:1. the lost edges that allow the rabbit to "be" and "not be" 2. the eye and the trick to eyes is the shadow over the top of the iris that is cast by the upper lid (dark on the top, light on the lower iris and it becomes round and lifelike) and then there is the side-by-side placement of warm and cool colors ....



Here is  a link to the other day 24 entries and travel down to see the wonderful paintings completed by my "beginner" (hardly) oil painting class.

Pretty fabulous! One worked on copying a favorite painting and the other two are from personal photographs. They all make me smile!